The energy business is the largest in the world, and we face significant challenges. There will always be a need for talented geophysicists—bright people with curious minds exploring for oil and gas.

I was invited to provide a model of upstream oil and gas independents in the future. By providing some history and an overview of Apache today, I will make the case that our company is one good model for the future of the upstream business worldwide.

Apache was founded almost 50 years ago. We were listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1969 and we've been a...